NextBillion - A WDI Publication

Bringing the Internet To the Whole World, by Jonathan Krim

AMD, known mostly as a computer chip maker perennially in the shadow of giant Intel Corp., recently unveiled a pared-down personal computer that costs roughly $200 in an ambitious drive to get computers with Internet access into the hands of 50 percent of the world’s population by 2015. Trying to bridge the digital divide with low-cost computers is neither a new idea nor one that has been particularly successful. A handheld machine developed in India called Simputer is attracting ...

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The Washington Post

A helping hand, by Rasheeda Bhagat

In a bid to create sustainable and gainful employment, aid resource utilisation and reach technological inputs to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the London-based Commonwealth Secretariat conducted the second Commonwealth-India small business competitiveness development programme in Chennai last week.. An important achievement of this conference was to mainstream gender participation in economic activity, and I’ll not be exaggerating when I say that at most sessions the women ent...

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The Hindu Business Line

Region

South Asia

Kenya looks underground for power, by Ishbel Matheson

Impala graze among a network of heating pipes. Giraffes nibble at acacias, metres away from a giant power-generating plant. But the fumes belching from the chimneys are not polluting petrochemical smoke. They are eco-friendly water vapour, which drifts off into the blue sky. The Ol Karia station is the continent’s biggest geothermal power-generating plant. It takes its name from a nearby volcano, which erupted 150 years ago and is still active. There are 22 wells across th...

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BBC News

Selling to the Poor

There is a surprisingly lucrative market in targeting low-income consumers. With sales growth harder to come by in a competitive world, enterprising companies are seeking expansion among the long-ignored lower classes. A nice 3 page story over at Time Online Edition ....

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Time Online Edition (link opens in a new window)

Villagers Generate Own Hydro-Electric Power, by Mwangi Mumero

A small rural group in Meru South has shattered the myth that only giant corporates like KenGen can generate hydro electric power. Having been repeatedly snubbed by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company in their attempt to get connected to the national grid, 150 members of Baraani Hydro-electric Self Help group have generated power from a local river and distributed it to over 36 households. We can now light up our houses, iron clothes, charge mobile phones and watch television p...

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The Nation (Nairobi)

Harnessing Creativity to Boost Developing Economies, by Mario Osava

The U.N. estimates that the creative industries -- which encompass a wide range of activities, from the movie and music industries to fashion and computer software -- represent seven percent of global GDP, the equivalent of 1.3 billion dollars this year. It is also a sector that is growing at a faster rate than the world economy in general. In the United States, Miguez noted, the intellectual property sector accounts for eight percent of GDP and generates employment for 12 percent of the c...

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IPS

GE looking to developing nations for future growth

Sixty percent of General Electric Co.’s growth in the next decade will come from developing countries, with revenue from China alone expected to top $5 billion in 2005, GE’s top executive said yesterday at the company’s annual meeting. This is a great time for your company, because we are outperforming in a slow-growth world, chief executive Jeff Immelt told shareholders. The industrial, financial, and media powerhouse has won 70 percent of China’s commitme...

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Associated Press

What’s The Best Tech Device For The World’s Poor? by Tony KontzerWed

Efforts to get information technology into the hands of people in Third World nations are a huge cultural imperative and a significant business opportunity. But what form those efforts should take is a matter of debate, if a keynote panel discussion Wednesday at Sand Hill Group’s Software 2005 conference in Santa Clara, Calif., is any indication. Much of the discussion, which provided a welcome respite from all the talk of business processes and product strategy, revolved around two in...

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InformationWeek